Nyokabi Kariũki: “Nazama”

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When the pandemic prevented Nyokabi Kariũki from touring to Kenya from the U.S., she used area recordings of beloved locations again dwelling to conjure an area of sonic refuge. On her upcoming follow-up Feeling Physique, she makes use of sound to equally therapeutic ends. Kariũki recorded the album as a mirrored image of her expertise with lengthy COVID, its six songs channeling a path from sickness to restoration.

“Nazama” is the album’s closing monitor, and, like these previous it, it’s constructed primarily out of her personal voice. The track sounds virtually a cappella at first; the bittersweet swirl of Kariũki’s gauzy, multi-part harmonies appear to fuse gospel and ambient. However a strong sub-bass rumble runs beneath her voice, together with affected person bowed strings and, faintly, the sound of rattling river stones. The title means “to sink” in Swahili, however the track’s movement is buoyant and unburdened, luminous with a lightness of being. She sings of praying by the ocean and invokes the River Jordan, a physique of water with deep non secular connotations. The track’s last line is a component vow, half celebration: “I’m getting higher,” she sings, her voice excessive and clear as she lingers over the ultimate phrase. Half hymn of gratitude and half track of self-affirmation, “Nazama” radiates therapeutic heat.